A mega solar-to-hydrogen factory has been commissioned in China, marking a milestone for the country’s — and potentially the world’s — effort to produce more green hydrogen, a fuel seen as key for slashing global greenhouse gas emissions.

The Sinopec Xinjiang Kuqa Green Hydrogen Pilot Project entered full operation in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region after its in-house solar power station was connected to the grid, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, the plant’s operator, announced on Aug. 30.

It is the largest solar-to-hydrogen project in the world and the first of its kind to operate at such a scale in China, Sinopec claimed.

The commissioning points to hydrogen’s importance in China’s efforts to build net-zero industry chains, experts told Caixin.

Building block

Green hydrogen is made by splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis powered by renewable energy, such as wind and solar.

It is considered one of the building blocks for slashing the global greenhouse gas emissions of heavy industries, such as steel and chemicals, because the fuel only emits water when burned but produces high-temperature heat that can power industrial processes.

Moreover, it is currently challenging for those industries to find affordable and viable low-carbon fuels.

“Vast green hydrogen potential exists around the world, equating to more than 20 times global primary energy demand in 2050,” the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said.

But global production of green hydrogen is extremely limited. In China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of hydrogen, only 1% of its hydrogen was green, according to the China Coal Processing & Utilization Association in a 2021 report.

By comparison, more than 80% of the hydrogen was produced by fossil fuel, the association noted, with 62% made by coal and 19% by gas.

Globally, the percentage of green hydrogen in overall hydrogen output was also about 1% in 2021, according to the IRENA.

Landmark project

The mega Kuqa plant is expected to produce 20,000 tons of green hydrogen every year. Its commission is a significant development as this is the first time a Chinese company has used solar power to produce hydrogen on a large scale, paving the way for the clean fuel to be used in the industrial sector.

The hydrogen it produces will be used in the oil refining process of a nearby chemical factory, also owned by Sinopec, in place of the gas-produced hydrogen the factory currently uses, Sinopec said.

The Kuqa plant, which has a solar farm the size of 900 soccer fields, can help avoid carbon dioxide emissions of around 485,000 tons every year, according to Sinopec.

The company is building another mega green hydrogen factory in Ordos in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which will use wind power to make 30,000 tons of hydrogen every year.

China has stepped up its efforts to set up green hydrogen facilities in western parts of the country in recent years, Jin Boyang, senior energy transition analyst at data provider Refinitiv, told Caixin.

The move can help China’s energy transition by preventing wind and solar power produced in western China from being wasted when the local power grids cannot take it in — by using it to make hydrogen, Jin said.

It is also a vital step enabling green hydrogen to be transported from renewable-abundant west China to the country’s energy-hungry East, he said.

And while the green hydrogen produced by Kuqa won’t be sent to the east coast and will instead be used locally, Jin said it still “further confirms hydrogen’s important role in China’s emerging and cutting-edge industries.”

According to China’s plan for the hydrogen industry released last year, the country is expected to produce 100,000 tons to 200,000 tons of green hydrogen annually by 2025.

By 2035, green hydrogen will “play an important supporting role” in China’s green energy transition and its proportion in end-use energy consumption “will increase significantly,” according to the plan cited by the Xinhua News Agency.